A/N: Sorry about the cliffie in the last chapter but I wanted to get it out knowing that I may not have as much time as I thought to write. Originally Ch 14 and 15 were going to be one long chapter, but I think the story works better this way.

Chapter 14- Conspiracy Theory

The dizzying sensation lasted only a moment when Harry found himself stumbling out of the large fireplace in Dumbledore's office. Unfortunately, the headmaster was nowhere to be seen. Harry bolted from his office and down the stone staircase hoping to find the professor before it was too late. The lives of the others depended on him finding the headmaster so that he could send for reinforcements.

He prayed as he pumped his arms and legs as fast as he could that the others were flooing in right behind. He didn't know what he would do if any of them had died or become injured during the attack. He resented the fact that they had sent him through the floo network first, but he understood their caution. The Death Eaters were most likely after the Boy-Who-Lived, not the Weasleys themselves.

He rounded the corner of the front lobby and looked at the two great hallways on either side of the main entrance, wondering where he should look first. Panting heavily, he glanced up at the heavy doors in front of him and hoped that he would find the man he was looking for on the other side. He opened the large wooden doors and ran into the Great Hall. He promptly saw that the headmaster was still dining at this late hour with some of the other Hogwarts professors.

"Dumbledore!"

The headmaster leapt to his feet seeing his most prized pupil running at him in great distress. "Harry? What is it? What are you doing here?"

Harry was gasping for air as he slowed to a halt before the staff table. He couldn't remember ever sprinting so hard in all of his life. With great difficulty he managed to get out the words that would alert Dumbledore to the problem. "Burrow…. under attack…. Death Eaters…. attacking the wards… others are flooing over… Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie are defending the Burrow…"

The other professors rose to their feet as soon as they understood the direness of the situation. Remus, who had joined the others when he had returned to the castle, quickly came around the long table to greet Harry. "Are you alright?" he asked as he put his hands on both of Harry's shoulders.

"I'm fine... just out of breath," said Harry as he regained his composure.

The headmaster set into action by asking Professor Flitwick to inform the Ministry of Magic of the attack by owl and assembling all the members of the Order of the Phoenix that were available at Hogwarts. "Minerva, Remus, and Severus, I would like you to come with me… the rest of you please stay behind and guard the castle. And someone locate Poppy, I think she is in Romania... the Weasley family may need some assistance when they return to the castle," said Dumbledore.

Harry found that a he had a large lump in his throat after the headmaster's last comment. He hoped that everyone would make it back safely. The professors soon began to follow orders and Harry watched as Professor Lupin followed Dumbledore and the others out of the Great Hall.

"Wait!" Harry shouted, and Remus slowed his pace and turned towards him slightly.

"Harry? What is it?" he asked with some concern.

"Please… please be careful," said Harry slowly. Remus smiled down at him in understanding. The small boy was afraid to lose the only parental figure he had left. If something happened to him, he would be left without a home once again.

"I'll be careful. I promise I will return as soon as possible," said Remus reassuringly.

Harry nodded and watched from the doorway for a few moments as the adults swiftly ran to just outside the wards that surrounded the castle. He suspected that they would Apparate to a location that was a short distance from where the Burrow was located and attempt to detain the Death Eaters.

Not knowing what else to do, Harry ran back to the headmaster's office to see if the others had returned yet from the Burrow. Thankfully, the stone guardian had not closed the entrance behind him when he left in such a hurry as Harry would not have known the password to reenter the office. He climbed the precarious stairs two at a time and threw open the office door. He let out a deep exhalation when he saw that Percy, George, Ginny, and Ron were already waiting in the office. They looked over at him expectantly and Harry silently understood what they were asking him.

"I already told Dumbledore about the attack and the Order is on their way there now," he said. Ginny looked relieved at the new information and buried her face into the shoulder of George who was comforting her by rubbing her back. Percy sat in the corner of the office looking completely miserable. It was obvious that Charlie's comment to him had stung deeply, and he sat apart from the others feeling guilty about the cause of the attack on the Burrow.

Unfortunately, flooing can be somewhat a slow process especially since there was so many of them, and Harry waited with baited breath for each person's safe return. Fred arrived moments after Harry reached the office, and Draco soon followed. Upon seeing his boyfriend, Harry promptly went over and took the blond into his arms, glad that the love of his life was safe and sound. Oddly, no one spoke a word the entire time they were waiting and Harry found that he was holding his breath in anticipation. He was only able to exhale again when he saw Mrs. Weasley come through the fireplace and quickly envelope everyone in one gigantic hug.

The large woman looked at each one of the children and asked, "Is everyone alright?"

"Of course, mum," said Ron as he hugged his mother with one arm.

"Harry, did you…" Mrs. Weasley began, but she was soon interrupted by Harry.

"Yes, no need to worry. The Order is on their way to help," he offered. Mrs. Weasley nodded in her appreciation that Harry had alerted them so quickly.

"What about dad and Bill and Charlie?" asked Ron worriedly. Harry hadn't stopped thinking about them either and he was scared about what Ron's mother might say. He felt Draco take his hand, and he gave it a squeeze, thankful for the support.

"I don't know what's happening now, dear, but it was rather quiet when I left," she replied quietly. Harry didn't like the sound of Mrs. Weasley's reply. Her answer could only mean one of two things. Either the Death Eaters had stopped attacking the wards and had been detained, or that they had somehow made it through the wards and had bested the Weasleys defending their home. Harry prayed that the first of the options was true as he could not bear to think about another person lost because of his tie to the Dark Lord.

"I am sure everything is going to be alright," said Fred hopefully.

"Yes, us Weasleys are made of strong stock," offered George. The group nodded in agreement as they thought about the three who were left behind.

"Well, I am sure we will have some news soon. Why don't we go somewhere more comfortable while we wait?" said Mrs. Weasley. She went to where Percy was still seated and helped her son up. He seemed completely out of it and Harry began to wonder what had happened to him to cause the otherwise dignified young man to look so traumatized. Harry silently wondered if he had looked like that all the times in which he had faced Voldemort.

They soon found themselves in the Hogwarts Infirmary. They had decided to bunk there because the hospital ward was the only place that had enough beds to contain the eight of them while they waited for information. Mrs. Weasley was currently checking on the status of Percy, while the twins, Ginny, and Ron hung out on a few of the beds that they had pushed together. They were talking quietly to one another in hushed voices. Harry decided to sit on his usual bed here in the infirmary, and was soon joined by Draco who sat behind him and gathered him in his arms.

Everyone rested quietly but no one was able to sleep, even at this late hour. Harry knew from their conversations that the Weasley's were concerned not only for their loved ones, but also for their beloved home. The Burrow was all they really had in this world, and despite its rickety appearance, it held a special place in all their hearts. They couldn't bear to think of it flattened to the ground, or possibly set on fire that Death Eaters were accustomed to doing.

Percy was still in somewhat of a daze and was currently not answering anyone's questions. His body trembled beneath the several blankets that had been laid on top of his body, and Harry wondered if the trembling was more due to the fact that he may have been tortured than a reaction to the chilly hospital ward. Harry distantly remembered his own body reacting in that matter, and suspected that the red head had been placed under the Cruciatus Curse. He hoped that wasn't true. No one deserved that kind of pain, especially not Percy, despite everything he had done. Mrs. Weasley did her best to care for Percy and make him comfortable, but they would not be able to care for him properly until Severus Snape returned. Madame Pomfrey, at that time, was out of the country visiting relatives. Snape had been filling in for the nurse as he was quite skilled in potion making and he had a history of dealing with injuries related to Death Eater attacks.

They waited two full hours when they finally saw the members of the Order stride through the large wooden doors that led to the infirmary. Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie entered first, followed by Lupin, Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore. Everyone was on their feet and greeting the valiant warriors. Their faces clearly showed that they had successfully won the small battle, and they were attacked by several voices at once begging for information about what happened.

"Settle down now," said Mr. Weasley. "Everything is fine, and the Burrow is safe." Everyone sighed in relief, and Mrs. Weasley rose to greet her husband and two sons, grateful that they had also returned safely.

"What about the Death Eaters?" asked Ron eagerly. "Were they captured?"

"Well actually, Mr. Weasley," said Dumbledore smiling down at Ron, "when myself and the other professors apparated to the location, your father and brothers had already stunned the Death Eaters and were waiting for our arrival. There wasn't much for us to do."

"Really?" asked Ron, beaming with pride for his father and older brothers.

"Yes, really. Your family is quite capable at handling themselves in dangerous situations. They are a valuable asset to the Order," replied Dumbledore.

"What happened, dad?" asked George. "Why did they attack us?"

"Well, there were only three Death Eaters attacking the wards around our home. The Ministry took them into custody as soon as they arrived on the scene so we weren't able to interrogate them ourselves... always getting in the bloody way." Mr. Weasley looked somewhat irritated about that fact, and Harry began to get curious as to why. Being employed at the Ministry, Harry would have thought that he would have more confidence in his superiors, but it appeared as though things were not always as they seemed.

"We would have been back sooner if the Ministry didn't keep us waiting for answers for so long," said Remus resentfully.

Snape continued the rest of the story. "From what we were able to gather from the Ministry officials, the three young men were fairly new followers of the Dark Lord. They had planned on kidnapping Mr. Potter, and they had even taken it upon themselves to locate the Burrow without informing the Dark Lord. The idiots hoped to be looked upon favorably by their master when they delivered the Boy-Who-Lived to him. I guess the stupid fools are still pretty naïve about the hierarchy of the Dark Side. Their master won't be happy about this turn of events." The Potions master had a look of mirth upon his face as he thought about how the young Death Eaters would be treated if they were ever in the presence of Voldemort again. The Dark Lord would no doubt punish them severely for their unauthorized actions.

"You mean that Voldemort didn't organize the attack?" said Harry in disbelief.

"It would appear that way, Harry," said Dumbledore. "It seems that these young men were acting of their own accord. I suspect that if Voldemort knew of you location, that he would have arrived there himself. There was no Dark Mark cast into the sky, and he failed to ever appear at the site. I think it is safe to assume that he did not plan the attack. Surely if he had known he would have sent more than just his three newest Death Eaters to your location. I don't think he would risk losing another opportunity to get his hands on you."

Harry nodded sadly, knowing that Dumbledore was right. If Voldemort had known where he was, he would have stopped at nothing to get to him. Harry felt guilty once again for ever thinking that he could lead a somewhat normal life. Until the Dark Lord was defeated, he would continually put those around him in danger.

"But how did the Death Eaters even know how to find the Burrow?" asked Draco. The large group all looked in the direction of Percy. He was still lying on the hospital bed, but was facing away from them. Now that danger was no longer evident for the group, everyone set their sites on determining what had led up to the attack and how it involved Percy.

The red haired boy was led to private room where Mrs. Weasley, Dumbledore, and Snape set to work healing his wounds and trying to determine what had happened. Forgetting their previous hatred for their brother, the Weasley children all looked quite concerned about what had happened to him.

"I'm sure he will be fine," said Mr. Weasley seeing the distress on his children's faces. Before joining his wife in the small room, he led them back over to the beds and ordered them to all relax until they knew something for sure. That was easier said and done, and the red heads all sat about restlessly once again as they waited for news.

McGonagall and Lupin felt it was necessary to alert the other professors that they had arrived safely back and the castle and check on the wards surrounding the castle as a precaution. Before Remus left, he came over to Harry's side and gave him a small hug.

"I told you I'd come back in one piece," he said quietly. Harry looked up at him gratefully and nodded. He hadn't realized just how much he had been worried about the man until that moment.

More than a half an hour later, the four adults returned from the private hospital room, leaving Percy to rest comfortably under the influence of a dreamless sleep potion. Harry, like the others, and just begun to nod off as exhaustion took hold of him, when he realized that they had returned. Now wide awake, he was desperate to hear what had become of Percy.

"Well?" said Ron a bit too loudly in the otherwise quiet hospital ward. Mrs. Weasley's eyes were quite red, and it was obvious that she had been crying. Arthur led his wife to one of the beds and sat her down gently.

"I am afraid that I have some bad news," said Dumbledore looking at each one of them carefully. Harry was saddened to see that the normal twinkle in the man's eye was once again missing. "We suspected that young Mr. Weasley had been captured by the Death Eaters who attacked the Burrow. He had some minor cuts and bruises, but his body seemed sore and weak, as if he had been placed under the Cruciatus Curse. Professor Snape was able to confirm our suspicions by using Legilimency to probe his mind for information. It would appear that Percy was kidnapped only two days ago by the three young Death Eaters. Wanting to capture Harry, who was believed to be spending the holidays with his best friend's family, the three young men kidnapped Percy and tortured him for information. You would be proud to know that the young man lying in there refused to give up the location of his family's home while under torture."

Harry looked away and sighed deeply. He knew what it was like to be placed under such torture and he felt awful that someone had undergone such pain so that the Death Eaters could get to him. He snuck a peek at the family before him and saw that the Weasleys looked at one another sadly. Each one teary eyed that their brother was subjected to torture, but proud that he was able to resist such extreme methods.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"What was that?" asked Mrs. Weasley, who looked as if she didn't hear him correctly.

"I'm sorry," Harry said a bit louder. Draco looked at him oddly now too as if he couldn't grasp at the reason Harry would be so apologetic.

"Whatever for darling?" asked Molly.

"Percy was tortured so that the Death Eaters could get to me. I should have never come to the Burrow for Christmas. No one is ever safe around me. I don't know what I was thinking…"

Mrs. Weasley strode quickly across the room with a determined look on her face. For a moment, Harry was a little fearful of her and shrank back against Draco who was sitting behind him.

"Don't you ever apologize like that again!" she said sharply.

"Wh-what?" said Harry fearfully. Seeing that she had inadvertently frightened Harry, her features softened somewhat as she knelt in front of him.

"Don't you ever apologize for something that is not your fault. You never asked for all the awful things that have happened to you, and you can hardly be blamed for any of it."

Harry tried to protest, but he was soon cut off. "I would never blame you for that which you cannot control," said Mrs. Weasley as she cupped his face in her hands. "We invited you to the Burrow because we love you, Harry, and we wanted to give you a Christmas like you had never had before. And I expect to see you at the Burrow every Christmas for as long as you are a part of my family. We could never have anticipated the attack. Besides the wards stayed intact and everyone is safe now. So stop making yourself upset over this, okay?"

Harry nodded, and was touched Mrs. Weasley's kind words. A small tear escaped from the corner of his eye and she quickly wiped it away with her thumb before the others could see. She then kissed him firmly on the forehead and joined her husband again across the room. The rest of the Weasleys gave him a sad smile that helped to reassure him further. He looked behind him at Draco who had been holding him tight and felt the blond kiss him on the forehead comfortingly as well.

"Molly is right, Harry. You should not feel guilty about things that are out of your control," said the headmaster. Harry nodded knowing that the old man was alluding to more than just what had happened tonight. Dumbledore knew that Harry felt responsible for the deaths of his parents, Cedric, and Sirius.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments until Charlie finally decided to speak up. "If Percy resisted the torture, then how did the Death Eaters find the Burrow?"

"The Death Eaters decided to use the Imperius Curse on Percy to lead them to the Burrow, which was rather insightful," replied Dumbledore thoughtfully. "They merely released him and told him to go home. They followed Percy as he walked blindly through the cold towards his childhood home. They would not have been able to see the Burrow itself because the wards around the home disguised it from their view, but they would have known when they had found it because Percy would have suddenly disappeared. They began to attack, but they didn't anticipate just how strong the wards were."

The Weasleys nodded in understanding. So at least they now understood what had led up to the unprompted attack.

"What about that bit Percy said about Ministry?" asked Bill. "He sounded really confused like he had gaps in his memory."

"I was wondering that myself," said Mr. Weasley. "I asked Professor Snape to probe his mind about his work at the Ministry and found some interesting information."

At this point Snape cut into the conversation. "I believe from what I saw that Percy may have been required to destroy documents that involved information about the Dark Lord's whereabouts and his followers' activities. We know that the Aurors have been working tirelessly to gather that information and yet we have never seen any follow up by the Ministry on any of their leads. It would be difficult because of Percy's close connection to Fudge to hide that information from him. I believe that his memory may have been obliviated to prevent him from saying anything. This could only mean that the Minister was somehow working on behalf of the Dark Lord, or that he too was being manipulated somehow."

"You're kidding, right?" boldly asked Bill of his former professor. "You're saying that our own government may be covering up You-Know-Who's whereabouts?"

"That's exactly what I am saying," said Snape darkly. Everyone looked at one another in surprise.

"That sounds like the makings of a conspiracy," said Bill.

"You're right. It would seem that the Ministry can no longer be our allies in this war against Voldemort," said Dumbledore.

"But this isn't right! How can our own government be working against us!" shouted Ron angrily. "We have to let everyone know what a creep Fudge is!"

"Unfortunately, son, that is more difficult than it sounds. Minister Fudge has many loyal supporters and the Daily Prophet prints whatever he sees fit on a whim. It will be difficult to persuade the masses to see Fudge for who he really is. We will only be able to bring him to justice with irrefutable proof of his dealings with You-Know-Who," said Arthur.

"Until then, the Order of the Phoenix will be working alone to defeat the Dark Lord," said Dumbledore defiantly. The silence that remained after that statement was almost deafening.

At that moment the wizarding world officially became divided into thirds; those who followed the Dark Side, those who listened to the Ministry and could not see for themselves the truth about Fudge's loyalty, and those who supported the Order of the Phoenix. This segregation among the wizarding communities would eventually lead to several battles and a possible Civil War not seen by witches and wizards since the time before Merlin himself.

The Weasleys were able to arrive at a truce of sorts seeing how circumstances how clouded Percy's better judgment when it came to his family. Mr. Weasley eventually was able to talk his son into working for the Order. Percy would reluctantly maintain his position at the Ministry in order to try to obtain information that would shed light on Cornelius Fudge's illegal operations. It was the only way they could make everyone see how corrupt their government really was. Only as a united front would they be able to defeat the Dark Lord.

It was also decided that it was safer for Ron, Ginny, Draco, and Harry to remain at Hogwarts instead of returning to the Burrow for the rest of the holiday. The others would go back to the Order's headquarters at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. The adults later returned to the Burrow to gather the children's things so that they could be brought to their dormitories here at Hogwarts. The house elves were kind enough to put away their things for them and had even laid out their Christmas presents neatly so that they would be reminded of all the lovely things that they had given each other before this nightmare began.

Many other families also felt that it was safer for their children to return to Hogwarts early as well when they learned of the attack near Ottery St. Catchpole. They were soon joined by most of their friends, including Hermione, Neville, Dean, and Seamus. It was the largest amount of students to ever stay at the castle between first and second term, and the prefects found that they had their hands full keeping everyone out of trouble while they had so much extra time on their hands.

Dumbledore finally decided after a large petition gathered by the student body that he would allow a New Year's Eve Bash to take place in the Great Hall. It would be a lot easier to supervise than each house having their own respective parties and it would cheer everyone up after the recent attack. Everyone was excited in anticipation of the big event and each house helped make decorations for the Great Hall. House rivalries put aside temporarily, they worked together to make the night one that they wouldn't soon forget.

Harry found himself actually looking forward to the celebration since it wouldn't be a formal like the Yule Ball normally was. He contemplated on whether or not Draco and himself would be able to go as a couple, but he had yet to ask his blond haired angel what he thought about the idea. What Harry didn't realize is that the events on New Year's Eve might change his relationship with Draco forever.

A/N: This chapter was really to lay the ground work for a possible sequel to this story, and to get our favorite characters back at Hogwarts for the New Year's celebration. You are going to hate me in the next chapter. I just know it! MUAHAHAHA

Many thanks to my beta, Drae and my lovely reviewers!